Musical instrument



Aug. 1950 A. SLUYTER MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed March 19, 1957 \k v m h un M m E 5 Q Q Q A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Albertus Sluyter, Sarphatistraat89, Amsterdam, Netherlands Filed Mar. 19, 1957, Ser. No. 647,151

10 Claims. (Cl. 84-236) The invention relates to a musical instrument,and more in particular to a musical instrument comprising a plurality ofresonators each adapted to be actuated by striking one of the keys of akey board. Examples of instruments of this kind are the piano, theharpsichord, and the clavichord,

In the known instruments of this kind, a rather complicated transmissionmechanism is provided between each key and the actuating member strikingthe associated resonator. This makes the construction of theseinstruments very expensive.

It is an object of the invention to simplify this transmissionmechanism.

Another object of the invention is to provide musical instruments of theabove-mentioned kind which are fully equivalent to the known instrumentsand have the same touch, but of which the costs are considerably lower.

Still another object of the invention is to provide relativelyinexpensive toyand study-instruments of the above-mentioned kind.

A further object of the invention is to provide a mu sical instrument ofthe above-mentioned kind of which the timbre may be changed in arelatively easy manner, for instance from a piano timbre into aharpsichord timbre, or vice versa.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a suitablecombination of springs and magnets for transmitting the movement of thekeys to the actuating members striking the resonators in musicalinstruments of the above-mentioned kind.

According to a main feature of the present invention, the movement ofthe keys is transmitted to the associated actuating members by means ofsprings which are temporarily held by means of magnets, so as to obtaina suitable snap or trigger action.

The resonators of the instrument according to the invention may be ofany desired kind. In general, strings will be used, but use may also bemade of metal tubes, bells or other resonators. It is generallypreferable to use elongated resonators horizontally arranged with theirlongitudinal axes in parallel with the keys.

The exact nature of my invention, and any additional objects thereofwill appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment,given with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is partially a side view, and partially a longitudinal section ofa key with its associated transmission mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the instrument as a whole.

Fig. 3 shows a detail of the transmission mechanism.

In Fig. 1, a key 1 is pivotably supported by a pin 3 mounted in a beam2; at its end, the key is guided by a pin 4. To the left of the point ofrotation of the key, a spring blade 5 is attached to the underside ofthe key body; at its free end, this spring blade carries an armature 6.Near its middle, the spring blade is hired ttes Patent 0 supported by ablock 7, so that the armature 6 is spaced at some distance from apermanent magnet 8, fixedly arranged under the armature. Preferably, thepart of the spring blade between its connection with the key body andthe supporting block 7 is made more rigid than the remaining part, forinstance by placing a second spring blade 22 against spring blade 5throughout the first-mentioned part of the latter.

When the key is struck, the left end of the key body moves in upwarddirection, whereby the spring blade 5 is lifted from its support 7. Thiscauses the spring blade to bend, so that the armature 6 is laid on thepermanent magnet S and is held thereby for the time being. Upon furthermovement of the key, the tension of the spring blade increasescontinually, until the force of attraction between the armature and themagnet is overcome and the spring blade is suddenly released. The hammerrod 9 supported by the upper side of the armature 6 is now suddenlymoved in upward direction, so that the hammer head 10 attached to thetop of the rod 9 impinges on the string 11 arranged above the key.During this movement, the hammer rod is guided by a grid beam 12 fixedlyarranged in the instrument.

At the same time as the rod 9, a rod 13 carrying a damping member 14 ismoved in upward direction, The rod 13 is guided by a grid beam 15. Whenthe key is released, the rod 13 falls back with its abutment 20 on acomb-shaped member 21. The member 21 may be adjusted with the aid of apedal in two positions, so that the damping member 14 either falls onthe string 11 or not, as desired. In the first case, the tone is dampedimmediately after release of the key, in the second case the tonecontinues.

The armature 6 is preferably made of a strip of soft iron, folded aroundthe end of the spring blade 5 and clamped to this blade. A metal blockserving as a support for the hammer rod 9 is attached to the said strip.

Setting screws 16, 17 and 18 are provided in the key body in order thatthe tension of the spring blade may be adjusted in such manner that thedesired operation is obtained. At the spots where the spring bladecontacts other parts during its movement, felt cushions are providedeither on the blade or on the said other parts. For instance, a feltcushion 23 is provided on the upper surface of the permanent magnet 8, afelt cushion 23a is provided on the block supporting the hammer rod 9,and a felt cushion 24 is provided on the upper surface of the springblade at the setting screws 16 and 17.

As appears from Fig. 2, the instrument has substantially the shape of agrand piano. The horizontal strings 11 are in parallel with the keys.The pedal 19 serves for adjusting the comb-shaped member 21 (Fig. 1).The manner in which the comb-shaped member 21 may be displaced by thepedal 19 is well-known in the art, so that a detailed description wouldappear to be superfluous. It is pointed out, however, that the pedal 19is pivoted in the middle, so that a depression of the lower part (at theleft in Fig. 2) causes the rod 25 to be lifted, whereby the comb-shapedmember 21 is lifted at the same time.

Fig. 3 shows a detail of the transmission mechanism in the positiontaken during the initial part of the movement of the key. As appearsfrom the drawing,'th e armature 6 consists of a relatively long strip ofsoft iron; of which one end has been folded around the end of the springblade 5 and clamped to this blade, while the other end of the strip hasnot been attached to the spring blade. Thus, this latter end liesagainst the setting screw 17 during the initial movement of the key.Thisconstruction has the advantage that the armature 6 does not impingeon the magnet 8 with a considerable force, so that interfering noisesare avoided. To the right of 3 the supporting block 7, the spring bladeconsists of two superposed blades, as mentioned hereinbefore.

Although my invention has been described hereinbefore with reference toa specific embodiment, it is to be understood that various alterationsand modifications may be applied thereto within the scope of theinvention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A musical instrument, comprising a plurality of pivotable keysarranged to form a key board, a plurality of horizontally arrangedresonators each associated with one of the said keys and each having itsaxis in parallel with the associated key, a plurality of vertical,axially displaceable hammer rods each associated with one of the saidkeys and placed underneath the associated resonator, a plurality ofhammer heads each attached to the upper end of one of the said hammerrods and adapted to strike the associated resonator upon axialdisplacement of the associated hammer rod, a plurality of spring bladeseach connected with one of the said keys for movement thereby and havingits free end below the under end of the associated hammer rod todisplace said hammer rod and actuate said resonator upon movement bysaid key, a plurality of ferromagnetic elements each carried by one ofthe said spring blades, and a second plurality of ferromagnetic elementsfixedly arranged in said instrument and each underneath one of theelements of said first-mentioned plurality of ferromagnetic elements,the elements of at least one of the said pluralities of ferromagneticelements being permanently magnetized, whereby, when a key is struck,.the associated spring blade is first held by the mutual attraction ofthe associated ferromagnetic elements, but is suddenly released uponfurther movement of the key when the said attraction is overcome by thespring tension, so that the associated hammer rod is thrust upwards andthe associated resonator is struck.

2. A musical instrument, comprising a plurality of pivotable keysarranged to form a key board, a plurality of resonators each associatedwith one of the said keys, a plurality of spring blades each attached tothe underside of one of the said keys on the side of its pivot remotefrom said key board, a plurality of armatures each carried by the freeend of one of the said spring blades, a plurality of permanent magnetsfixedly arranged in said instrument and each opposite to one of the saidarmatures so as to hold the same when in contact therewith until themutual attraction is overcome by the tension of the associated springblade, a plurality of hammer rods each associated with one of the saidkeys and having one of its ends opposite to the free end of theassociated spring blade so' as to be displaced thereby when said springblade is released by the associated permanent magnet, a plurality ofhammer heads each attached to the other end of one of the said hammerrods and adapted to actuate one of the said resonators upon displacementof the associated hammer rod, and a plurality of supporting members eachsupporting one of the said spring blades near the middle thereof,whereby the associated armature is spaced from the associated permanentmagnet in the position of rest of the associated key, and whereby, whena key is struck, the associated spring blade is first lifted from itssupporting member, so that it is caused to bend and to Contact theassociated permanent magnet with its armature. a

3. A musical instrument as-claimed in claim 2, 'wherein the part of eachof the said spring blades betweenits connection with the associated keyand the associated supporting member is more rigid than the remainingpart of said spring blade.

4. A musical instrument, as claimed in claim 2, wherein the part of eachof the said spring blades between its connection with the associated keyand the associated supporting member is composed of two superposedblades.

5. A musical instrument as claimed in claim '2, where in the saidresonators are horizontally arranged each with its axis in parallel withthe associated key.

6. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 2, wherein the said hammerheads are detachable from the said hammer rods.

7. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 2, further comprising aplurality of setting screws mounted in the bodies of the said keys foradjusting the said spring blades, wherein each of the said armaturescomprises a relatively long strip of soft iron of which one of the endshas been folded about the free end of the associated spring blade andclamped to the latter, while the other end of said strip is movable withrespect to the associated spring blade and lies against one of the saidsetting screws during the initial movement of the associated key.

8. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 2, wherein cushions of feltare provided at the spots where each of the said spring blades contactsother parts during its movement.

9. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 2, fuither comprising aplurality of damping members each associated with one of the said keysand adapted to be displaced in upward direction when the, associated keyis struck, an abutment for the said damping members on which they fallback after release of the associated key, and a pedal for adjusting saidabutment so that the said damping members may either fall on theassociated resonators or not, as desired.

10. In a musical instrument the combination which comprises actuatingmeans comprising a movable key, a pair of mutually magneticallyattracting elements, one of said elements being an armature element andthe other of said elements being a holding element, means resilientlyconnecting said armature element to said actuating means to resilientlyurge the armature element along a path of movement when said key ismoved, a resonator mounted at a location spaced from said armatureelement, hammer means mounted for movement into and out of actingcontact with said resonator, said hammer means being positioned in thepath of movement of said armature element to be mechanically movedthereby into actuating contact with said resonator, said holding elementbeing mounted to hold said armature element at one end of said path ofmovement opposite References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 960,665 Metzger June 7, 1910 962,261 Rose et a1. June 21, 1910 r 1,148,719

Sandell Aug. 3, 19 15

